`Sony Europe hacked but no data lost`

Tokyo: Sony said Monday that its European subsidiary`s website had been hacked in the latest online attack targeting the Japanese electronics giant, which sent company shares down more than two percent.

No confidential data was stolen or published on the Internet, said company spokeswoman Mami Imada in Tokyo.

"It is true that the website was illegally accessed," said Imada. "But all the data that the hacker seems to have copied was information already available on the company website."

The London-based headquarters of Sony Europe Ltd on Saturday morning spotted the attack in which personal information about the firm`s certified trainers for professional broadcasting equipment was targeted.

Although the data was already open for anyone to view, the hacker accessed the information through an illegal path.

The news of the latest online attack helped send Sony shares down more than two percent by midday in Tokyo trade.

A series of cyber attacks has affected more than 100 million accounts of customers of the consumer electronics and entertainment giant, making it one of the largest data breaches ever.

At the weekend, another Japanese gamemaker, Nintendo, said the server of its US unit had been hacked a few weeks ago.

"The server contained no consumer information," said a Nintendo statement that confirmed the attack.